TECHNOLOGY
How could APIs help the payroll, pensions and reward industries?
Pauline Green ACIPP MBCS FMAAT, head of product compliance and programs at Intuit, considers how application programming interfaces (APIs) could benefit employers, employees, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and pension providers
L et’s start today’s discussion with a brief explanation of what APIs are. API stands for ‘application programming interface’, and an application programming interface is a way for two or more computer programs or components to communicate with each other. It’s a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software, including apps on your mobile. "There are some fundamental issues with real time information which could be addressed through application programming interfaces" Popular uses of payroll software communication The most common form of payroll software communication is with HMRC via real time information (RTI). This isn’t done using APIs, as it’s a one-way communication. RTI was introduced over a decade ago and has
remained largely unchanged. New data items, allowable formats etc. have been added, but there are currently no plans to change it. The government is currently focussed on ‘making tax digital’ (MTD) which uses APIs, but has taken on other taxes, namely value added tax (VAT) and now self-assessment. MTD is all about the two-way communication of what the software for the end user has stored in their application and the information that HMRC has on that user. The other main form of payroll communication with external services is with pension providers. Depending on which payroll software you use, and the size of the payroll being run, you may have to complete multiple submissions to numerous pension providers. Some payroll software may have built-in APIs to pension providers but for many reasons, including the lack of a mandated data standard and the fact that some pension providers aren’t able to support APIs, not all software does. As a result, sometimes the only option for payroll professionals and employers is either to enter the data manually or to upload Excel / comma separated value (csv) files onto the pension website or portal.
There’s been no indication that APIs will be introduced by HMRC, or that a data standard allowing easy transfer of pension information from payroll to pension will happen soon, but let’s have a look at what could be done if it does happen. It’s a question of (data) quality There are some fundamental issues with RTI which could be addressed through APIs. Data quality is a major one. There are significant issues around data which should be easily available to payroll, such as: l full names l dates of birth l National Insurance (NI) numbers. The same issues with these core data points also impact pension providers, who have the added challenge of trying to match pension pots to individuals. NI numbers are a particular challenge, which isn’t helped by the fact that a lot of pension providers (and others) think they are unique identifiers of individuals. Did you know that there are over 2,000 individuals with the NI number AB123456? And even though RTI doesn’t allow for temporary NI numbers, there are still plenty around! Of course, it doesn’t help that there’s an assumption that ‘everyone’ has
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | April 2024 | Issue 99 44
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